How To Drink

A Drink For Vikings? (2020x61)

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Let's talk about Vikings, who they were, what they did, where they lived, and importantly, what they drank. Firstly, "Vikings" are a specific group, or activity even, of Norse and Scandinavian peoples. One becomes a viking when they head off on an adventure to raid and conquest for money- basically they're pirates. The "Viking Age" runs from roughly the 800's-1200's and is a period of expansion and conquest from Scandinavia that is sort of the background to what we'd call "The Dark Ages". The Viking's drank well, frankly anything they could get their hands on, but they're commonly associated with mead. Mead is a fermented beverage that is probably the oldest fermented drink on Earth. It's made by fermenting honey into a drink about has strong as wine. It's sometimes called Honey Wine, or wine made from honey, but in my experience this annoys both wine drinkers and mead drinkers alike. The thing about mead is that even though Vikings prized it, it was expensive and rare stuff to lay hands on. It takes a lot of bees to make any quantity of mead, so it would be reserved for festivals and holidays, and the very wealthy. Mostly they drank ale, like, probably more than water. That's not to say they were rip-roaring drunk all the time, in fact there's a lot of viking prose about consuming in moderation, but low abv ales would often be safer than un-purified water. The ales common during the viking would have certainly been ales and not lagers, and they would typically rely on barley for a grain bill but could really involve just about anything as a fermentable or flavoring component. So in building a "Viking Appropriate Cocktail" here, I'm keeping in mind all the things Vikings liked to drink, and had access to. I found a vodka brand called Barr Hill Vodka, it's vodka made from a pure honey mash. Now, they call this stuff vodka, but it's got a lot more character than the typical vodka. It retains a lot of the honey flavor, and frankly I'd be inclined to call it a honey